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Father of the Pride
Father of the Pride was a Syndication network animated sitcom series created by Jeffrey Katzenberg. The show aired from August 31, 2004 to May 27, 2005, lasting for one season & 15 episodes. It was produced by DreamWorks Animation. Plot The series revolved around the adventures of a family of white lions, consisting of father Larry, the bumbling, yet well-intentioned star of Siegfried & Roy's show and his family. Voice Cast *John Goodman as Larry *Cheryl Hines as Kate *Danielle Harris as Sierra *Daryl Sabara as Hunter *Carl Reiner as Sarmoti *Orlando Jones as Snack *Julian Holloway as Siegfried Fischbacher *David Herman as Roy Horn *John O'Hurley as Blake *Wendie Malick as Victoria Production In 2002, Jeffrey Katzenberg came up with the idea for the series when he visited Siegfried & Roy's show in Las Vegas, Nevada: "I thought, I wonder what it's like for those lions. What must life be like from their point of view? They're living in Las Vegas, trying to raise a family and earn a living. In animation, we look for those things — a way to look at our lives through a fantasy world. It allows us to take on subjects that are too difficult to do with real people. It allows us to be more controversial. Edgier. There can be parody and innuendo and satire. Things can be sophisticated in a way that even our feature films can't be." According to Katzenberg, the series was created for "an 18- to 49-year-old. It's not about checking to make sure you don't leave the 6-, 7- and 8-year-olds behind. This is purely an adult show." Each episode of "Father of the Pride" cost an estimated $2 million to $2.5 million to produce, making it at the time of its release one of the most expensive half-hour television comedies ever. Long before its broadcast, the series was nearly cancelled, following the near-death of Roy Horn in October 2003; but after his condition improved, Siegfried & Roy urged NBC to continue production. Katzenberg recalled, "There was a short period of time where we all just rocked out on our heels and couldn't be particularly creative and certainly not very funny. But Siegfried kept saying, every step of the way, that this show meant so much to them. So much to Roy. Then, even more than it ever did." Broadcast History "Father of the Pride" made its debut on August 31, 2004, attracting 12.3 million viewers, making it the most-watched series of the week on American television. However, the series was expected to do better, especially considering heavy promotion during NBC's coverage of the 2004 Summer Olympics in Athens, Greece. Its opening ranked only the 13th of 16 fall comedies that NBC introduced since 1999. When the series debuted, it got off to a good start with strong ratings and continued to show good promise for the series through early September 2004 until the ratings began to rapidly decline. Many airings of "Father of the Pride" were repeatedly interrupted by updates on the 2004 presidential election. By that point, there had been such a glut of advertising that audiences were sick of it. By November of 2004, the show was pulled from NBC's sweeps line-up. In early December, Jeffrey Katzenberg announced that he did not think "Father of the Pride" would be picked up for a second season. Over the next few months, the network aired several of the remaining episodes outside of sweeps periods, but the series did not return for a second season; a few of the remaining episodes were burned off in late December 2004. Reception "Father of the Pride" received a negative response from television critics, who considered it to be little more than a gimmick and a shill for other NBC and DreamWorks properties (two early episodes extensively featured Matt Lauer from "The Today Show"'s and another featured Donkey from the "Shrek" franchise). Also, many television critics noticed that the series' humor was very similar to "South Park" (one episode even had a character say, "Screw you guys, I'm goin' home!"). According to Katzenberg, Siegfried & Roy's reactions were more positive: "They laughed. A lot. They kept asking us to create more contradiction. Literally, one's blond and one's dark, and every aspect of their life is as black and white as that. They are always playful with one another, always playing tricks on one another. They encouraged us to have fun with that." Protest from the Parents Television Council In October of 2004, the Parents Television Council's launched a campaign against "Father of the Pride". Reasons cited for their opposition were the aforementioned use of anthropomorphic animals and the use of "from the creators of Shrek" in their promotions. The film in question was seen by the Council as much more family-friendly than this series, which the PTC stated could inadvertently draw the wrong audience based on the way it was promoted by NBC. Their campaign led to over 11,000 complaints to the Federal Communications Commission. However, in March of 2006, the FCC ruled that the show was not indecent. Category:2000s television series Category:Animation Category:2004 Category:2005 Category:2004 debuts Category:Syndication